Lawmakers hear testimony that Michigan lacks psychiatric beds for children and adolescents, pushing families to ERs and out-of-state care

Lansing — The House Oversight Subcommittee on Public Health and Food Security heard more than three hours of testimony July 1 on Michigan—s shortage of psychiatric inpatient beds, with speakers saying gaps in child and adolescent capacity push families into emergency rooms, juvenile justice and out-of-state programs.

Advocates and county officials told the panel that the state—s community mental health (CMH) system no longer has the funding flexibility or licensed residential options it once did, which leaves families with a small set of pathways when a young person—s behavior becomes dangerous or unmanageable. "Kids should not have to go into the juvenile justice system to get residential treatment, which is typically out of state," said Mary Anne Huff, President and CEO of the Mental Health Association in Michigan.

Huff described families who spend weeks in emergency departments unable to secure an appropriate bed and said specialized residential care that used to exist in Michigan has largely disappeared. She told the committee that changes in restraint and seclusion rules and Medicaid payment policy removed essential reimbursement for specialized residential programs and contributed to closures of long-standing facilities. "When those rules changed . . . a place that I—m very familiar with personally . . . had to close," she said, referring to Children's Home of Detroit and other local residential options.

County officials and CMH leaders amplified those concerns. Steven Burnham, retired Kalamazoo County probate registrar, told the committee that CMHs once relied on county general funds as well as Medicaid to try creative local solutions. He…